Blue Notes

The Chairman and right-hand man open up....

In a pre-game interview last night here in Dallas, MSG Chairman James Dolan and MSG Sports executive Steve Mills discussed topics affecting Rangers Nation from putting a minor league team in Brooklyn, to raising ticket prices, to cutting back division games, to expectations for the season, to the status of Tom Renney and Glen Sather and progress on a new Garden.

Here's a synopsis, some of which is sure to raise eyebrows and trigger reaction:

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The Rangers are investigating the purchase of an East Coast Hockey League team that would play at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
"There's an opportunity for us to control the entire pipeline of the players more fully and we think there's an opportunity to extend the Rangers' presence," Mills said, possibly as soon as next season. Last month, the Garden entered a deal with the owners of a 25-acre sports complex at the site which has two rinks, one of which can hold about 2,300 people.

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Dolan said he thought this team could compete for the Stanley Cup. "I think last year, the focus was to get into the playoffs, to prove yourself to be a playoff team; the way they look at themselves now, the way they're energize, they're thinking about where they go in the playoffs, not just get to the playoffs. So I expect that, its all subject to injuries etcetera...I think they can go a way. I think they would be disappointed if they didn't get through the second round or at least get to the second round, maybe they can go further. It's not impossible to think they can win the Stanley Cup or play for the Stanley Cup."

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Although Dolan said "Rangers fans are incredible, I think they have shrines in their basement," he and Mills said ticket prices will increase if the Rangers make the playoffs; if they don't, prices will stay the same.

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Dolan and Mills said they would be willing to reduce the number of games against each Atlantic Division rival---the Islanders, Devils, Flyers and Penguins---from eight to six per season. "I wouldn't go any less than six," Dolan said. "Wherever the Rangers go, they draw a crowd...Inter-divisional play is real exciting for our fans. Those rivalries are great rivalries. On issues like that we try to support the league, so if a change like that really helps other teams in the league we're good with that."

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The possibility of a new Garden in the Farley Post Office across Eighth Avenue isn't dead. "We've got a new governor and if we saw the Farley process was stalled, we'd have to make a decision soon," on a full renovation of the current building, Dolan said.

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President and general manager Glen Sather isn't going anywhere, Dolan said. "He's built a real fine organization. Not just players, it's the coaching staff, the medical staff, we've got the best goalie coach (Benoit Allaire) in the league....[Sather] essentially has an open-ended ticket...he can stay as long as he likes."

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Coach Tom Renney isn't on thin ice either. "I think you have to be pretty happy with Tom Renney," Dolan said. Renney's contract, which was to end this season, was extended at the end of last year, Dolan revealed.

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Acquiring a high-salaried veteran at the trade deadline is possible. The salary cap "makes the farm system more important.... 'Do we have a youngster who's up and coming?' that's what I ask first. But if you need a year from a veteran, we can do that," Dolan said.